Will Preparation Checklist

The following checklist can help to ensure that you have detailed information of your assets for your Will. When dealing with your solicitor or will writer this information will save you time and money in drawing up your Will.

About You

Your full name

Any former name(s) or alias(es)

Address

Age (for purposes of tax and investment advice)

Married/co-habiting/civil partner?

Children/Step children? Full names and ages

What Assets You Own

Make a complete list of all your assets. This should include property, cars, possessions, stocks and shares, bank and building society accounts, pensions, insurance policies, digital assets and any businesses you own or part own:

Property

Your home

Garage / Storage

Holiday home (in the UK or abroad)

Land e.g. a field or building plot

Property that might be inherited

Property which you let to others

Investments

You should list those that are held solely by you or jointly with someone else. You should include the name of the organisation and contact details, policy or account number(s). With shares the number that are held, certificate number if in paper form and where the physical share certificates are located.

Bonds

Current Account(s)

Gilts

Insurance Policies – including whether or not you have instructed the Insurance Company to benefit a particular person on your death

ISAs

Life Policies

National Savings

Premium Bonds

Pre-paid Funeral Plans

Savings Account(s)

Savings Certificates

Shares

Unit Trusts

Other e.g. cash in a safe

Personal Possessions

These would include such items as::

Art/Sculptures

Collectible items e.g. stamp collection

Jewellery

Musical instruments

Online assets e.g. music downloads, e-books, photos etc., Sometimes these are not transferable on death. You should check with the terms and conditions of the online organisation holding the assets.

Home contents such as furniture, clothes and electrical appliances

Vehicles e.g. cars & bicycles

Debts

Include any debts you currently have. These will reduce the value of your estate. Items to include are:

Credit/Debit cards

Leases e.g. for vehicles

Loans

Mortgages

Business Assets

These are related to trading or to your business in some way. They are owned by you or by the business partnership. Items to include are:

fixtures and fittings

goodwill of the business as this can have a financial value

land and buildings used as business premises (shop, office, factory or workshop

plant and machinery

registered domain names

registered trade marks

shares in a company

You should specify whether these business assets are solely or jointly held, its value and your share in it. If you are the owner or part owner of a business you need to ensure you consider what will happen to your share on death. This should be included in your Will. You should seek tax advice when drawing up your will as taxation could well apply to your business assets.

Digital Assets

In today’s digital world we all have an increasing number of digital assets. From social media accounts, domain names, photos and media libraries online, digital music, ebooks and mail accounts to name but a few. Increasingly some accounts such as share dealing may only exist online.

The issue with digital assets is that when someone passes away unless there has been pre-planning access to these digital assets can be locked or lost. It will be down to the executors of the estate or family members to try to get access. This can be difficult if there is no clear authority to access the accounts, especially if they are accounts that are only available online. This can result in accounts either being frozen or access completely denied. This can cause immense difficulties if, for example you want to be able to download photos or videos from a site. What needs to be considered regarding Digital Assets and how they can be safeguarded can be found here.

Locations of your assets

The locations of all your assets should also be provided. Some accounts such as share dealing may only be available online or through a smart device. So you will need to provide details as to how these can be found and accessed (app name, site or company name, user name and passwords). See Digital Assets

Value of Your Property

You may need to get a professional valuation e.g. from a local estate agent for a house, or from a broker for stocks and shares, a jewellers for jewellery and so forth. Use a spreadsheet to record this information as this will help in drawing up your will.

Beneficiaries-Who gets What

Name and provide contact details, including address for all the people who you would like to benefit from your Will. Ensure that you also name all dependents, family members and their status. Include details of previous marriages. List all dependants. Anyone who is financially dependent on you can challenge the Will in Court if they feel that you have not provided properly for them. Decide how you want to divide your estate between family, friends and/or charities.

Guardians

If you have any children who are under 18 you can appoint Guardians to look after them in the event of your death. You should think about this carefully, particularly if your children are very young. You may also wish to think about who the guardians should be if for some reason your first choice guardians are no longer able to do this. It may be helpful to think about how you provide financially for your children for example where they would live.

Gifts

Many people want to make gifts of money or special items (such as a piece of jewellery), which are known as ‘legacies’. Once the legacies have been taken out of your Estate, this leaves the ‘residue’ which is then distributed. It is important that you are clear about what the gift is and the reason you have left it. If you think it is particularly valuable or may cause a dispute, document your reason why as this can help if there is any challenge. You should record whether you have made any substantial gifts within the last seven years. This would is required for inheritance tax purposes.

Trusts

Outline the purpose of the trust, the beneficiary (or beneficiaries), and the details of the trustees. Setting up trusts can help to minimise inheritance tax but you should consult a solicitor to ensure that these are set up correctly.

Conditions

Outline conditions you want to place on your bequests. For example that a young person must reach a certain age before having access to money or a possession.

Medical Research – Body and Organs

If you want to leave your body for medical research or donate organs, inform your will writer. However, bear in mind that the will is often read sometime after the death, by which time it may be too late to donate your organs. You should include such information in your Letter of Wishes.